Facing public backlash and privacy concerns, several communities are canceling contracts with Flock Safety and replacing their license plate readers with Axon systems. While city officials argue the new contracts provide stricter local data controls and limits, privacy advocates warn that changing vendors leaves widespread vehicle tracking and surveillance intact.

Tim Miller spoke with author and Tulane professor Nathaniel Rich regarding the increasing political backlash against data centers. The discussion explored climate change, privacy concerns, and security risks associated with the expanding infrastructure, as well as Rich’s new novel, Cloudthief.

Prominent tech leaders including Elon Musk, Peter Thiel, and Sam Altman have shaped the industry by treating classic science fiction as technical blueprints rather than cautionary tales. By pursuing concepts like advanced artificial intelligence and planetary colonization, these entrepreneurs risk turning fictional dystopias into functioning reality. Critics warn that failing to heed the ethical cautions embedded in these stories could result in profound societal consequences.

The Florida Department of Transportation is revoking permits for automated license plate readers on state highways, requiring devices to be removed within 30 days. Following the decision, several sheriff's offices across Florida announced they will discontinue using Flock cameras entirely amid resident concerns. The move follows growing national scrutiny over Flock Safety systems misreading license plates and contributing to wrongful arrests.

Dyson has launched its first electric toothbrush, the Dyson CameraJet, priced at $499. The device features a built-in macro camera that streams live footage to the MyDyson app and uses AI to automatically detect tooth gaps and shoot targeted flossing jets. To address privacy concerns, Dyson noted that the video feed is only streamed live and never stored.

Solar power now requires equal or less upfront capital investment than coal or gas plants to produce the same annual electricity, according to an Ember analysis. Driven by an 87% plunge in solar installation costs and a 93% drop in battery storage costs since 2010, firm solar-plus-storage is now cost-competitive with new fossil generation. This economic shift eliminates a key financing hurdle, especially for emerging economies facing surging energy demand.

HMD Global has introduced the Nokia 300 Charge, a new feature phone equipped with a 3,700 mAh battery that doubles as a 10W power bank to charge other devices. The retro handset features a 2.4-inch display, an ultra-bright LED flashlight, a 3.5 mm headphone jack, and expandable microSD storage. Offering over 40 days of standby time, the device is initially available in the Philippines for approximately $32.

Sony has filed a legal response to a proposed class-action lawsuit in California that accuses the company of failing to properly disclose that digital purchases are licenses rather than owned products. The publisher argues that reasonable consumers understand they do not obtain true ownership of digital games. Sony is using these arguments in an effort to have the court send the dispute to private arbitration.

Tests show that NVIDIA's upcoming DLSS 5 Neural Rendering can unofficially run on older GeForce RTX 30 series GPUs. However, enabling the feature on an RTX 3080 resulted in a severe 97% performance drop, with frame rates plummeting from 138 FPS to 4 FPS. Currently, the RTX 50 series remains the only lineup officially scheduled to receive DLSS 5.

Standard GeForce RTX 5090 graphics cards are approaching and exceeding $5,000 in the United States, with models like the ASUS TUF Gaming RTX 5090 OC listed at $5,099. Other models, including the Gigabyte AORUS Master and Zotac Solid OC, are currently listed near the $5,000 mark. Despite these soaring retail prices surpassing even limited-edition collector models, NVIDIA's official MSRP remains unchanged at $1,999.

A global clinical trial published in JAMA Dermatology found that the arthritis drug upadacitinib can effectively reverse hair loss caused by alopecia areata. Within 24 weeks of daily treatment, roughly half of the participants taking the medication regained at least 80 percent of their scalp hair.

Beta benchmarking for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 reveals extreme performance demands at native 4K resolution with maximum settings. Only the GeForce RTX 5090 and GeForce RTX 4090 exceeded the 25 FPS threshold, delivering averages of 39 and 29 frames per second, respectively. Other tested graphics cards failed to reach 25 FPS, while the game consumed up to 25 GB of video memory.

MapQuest saw its mobile app surge to the top of the U.S. Navigation charts after refusing to rename Lake Ontario to Lake America following an executive order from President Donald Trump. The decision drove a massive download spike, with weekly global installs increasing more than tenfold. While Google Maps moved to comply with the directive for U.S. users, MapQuest's defiance propelled its daily app usage to 50 times above normal levels.

South Korea is launching an "AI for All" initiative to provide free, unlimited generative AI access to its entire population later this year. Developed by three domestic tech consortia using government-supplied Nvidia B200 chips, the tools will integrate with public systems to assist with medical appointments, housing, and taxes. The initiative aims to strengthen the country's domestic AI industry and reduce reliance on foreign systems.

Early benchmarking of DLSS 5 Neural Rendering in Cyberpunk 2077 at 4K resolution revealed a severe performance penalty on the GeForce RTX 5090. Frame rates dropped 33 percent from 63 fps to 42 fps, while power consumption reached 609.2W and VRAM usage exceeded 15.5 GB. Although the neural network markedly refines character details and lighting, its high computational demand creates substantial rendering overhead.

NASA's Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope has launched aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket to investigate dark matter, dark energy, and exoplanets. Featuring a field of view 100 times larger than Hubble, the observatory will transmit 1.4 terabytes of data daily once fully operational. NASA expects the telescope to deliver its first images in early 2027.

Sony is facing a class-action lawsuit alleging that it misleads consumers by using terms like "Buy Now" without clearly disclosing that digital games are licensed rather than owned. In response, Sony argues that reasonable customers understand digital purchases do not confer ownership, citing its End User License Agreement. To avoid legal action, the company must prove that its licensing terms are sufficiently accessible and obvious to buyers during digital checkout.

Modders have ported a leaked NVIDIA DLSS 5 Neural Rendering library to more than a dozen games, including Cyberpunk 2077 and GTA V. Using the RenoDX framework, the unofficial integration enables neural rendering in unsupported titles, though early tests show steep performance penalties and VRAM bugs. NVIDIA's official DLSS 5 implementation will provide developer controls that may yield different results upon final release.

Google announced it is updating Google Maps to display "Lake America" instead of Lake Ontario for users in the United States following an executive order and GNIS updates. Users in Canada will continue to see "Lake Ontario," while international users will see both names. Meanwhile, competitors like Apple Maps and MapQuest have not adopted the renaming.

Units of Sony Music and Warner Music have filed a lawsuit against Anthropic, CEO Dario Amodei, and co-founder Benjamin Mann, alleging massive copyright infringement. The plaintiffs claim Anthropic unlawfully scraped and downloaded tens of thousands of musical compositions to train its Claude AI models. Anthropic stated that it disagrees with the allegations and intends to robustly defend itself in court.

Xbox CEO Asha Sharma announced that Microsoft's upcoming tenth-generation console lineup, codenamed Project Helix, will launch as a family of devices. The move suggests Xbox will offer multiple hardware tiers at different price points, echoing the Xbox Series S and X strategy. Although further technical details remain scarce, alpha development hardware is not expected to reach game studios until at least 2027.

Surgeons at University College London Hospital have performed the world's first brain surgery using live artificial intelligence assistance to safely remove a pituitary tumour. Developed by UCL researchers and funded by Google, the AI tool analysed real-time video to highlight critical blood vessels and nerves. The team is now preparing a larger trial as part of a long-term goal to develop real-time AI assistants for surgeons.

Meta has agreed to pay up to $17.1 billion to settle youth safety lawsuits brought by attorneys general from 47 states and territories. As part of the agreement, the company will implement new restrictions for minors, including daily usage limits and enhanced age verification tools. However, critics caution that enforcing these measures could require invasive identity checks for adults, raising concerns over First Amendment protections and anonymous online speech.

Flock Safety CEO Garrett Langley is facing online doxxing on X after dismissing privacy concerns surrounding the company's automated license plate readers. In response, lawmakers introduced the PRIVACY Act to mandate warrants for querying plate data, while Senator Josh Hawley launched a formal congressional investigation into the company. The developments signal mounting federal pressure and public resistance against widespread mass vehicular surveillance.